Jimmy Kimmel's 'Cecil The Lion' Monologue Is Perfect, And It's Raised $150k For Charity

Jimmy Kimmel's Cecil The Lion Monologue Has Already Raised $150k For Wildlife Preservation

The world has been rocked this week by the news that Zimbabwe's beloved celebrity lion Cecil had been hunted and killed by US dentist Walter Palmer. Palmer allegedly paid $50,000 for the opportunity to hunt the big cat, and injured it with a crossbow 40 hours before beheading and skinning the animal.

Palmer said he "had no idea" 13-year-old Cecil was a local favourite until the end of the hunt, which took place on July 1. The 13-year-old lion was found beheaded and skinned outside Hwange National Park, after being lured out of the borders with bait.

Jimmy Kimmel saw the news, and decided to use one of his signature monologues to tear apart the dentist and poke fun at the entire thing, all while highlighting the ridiculousness of the entire thing.

Asking why a human being would bother killing a beautiful creature, Kimmel said: "Is it that difficult for you to get an erection that you need to kill things?

"They have a pill for that."

Putting the jokes aside, Kimmel went on to say: "If you’re some a-hole dentist who wants a lion’s head over the fireplace in his man-cave so his douchebag buddies can gather around it and drink Scotch and tell him how awesome he is, that’s just vomitous."

The late night host then encouraged people to donate to wildcru.org, before breaking down into tears over the entire ordeal.

UPDATE: This segment has now raised more than $150,000 for charity in under 24 hours.

More than 2,600 donors have raised $150,000 after seeing the piece, a representative for 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' told The Wrap.

"Jimmy Kimmel implored his millions of listeners in the USA to make donations to support our work on lions, and conservation more widely," WildCRU director David McDonald said in a statement. "We are so grateful for this and for the up-welling of support for our work worldwide."

The Wildlife Conservation Unit (WildCRU) is based at the University of Oxford's Department of Zoology. They have a special donation page for UK residents, which has already raised more than £1000.

Brits can donate here.

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